The home stand has broken
West Ham United 1–3 West Bromwich Albion at the London Stadium on Saturday. Felix Myhre scored early and the game never came back to level terms (11). That is two home defeats in eight days, the 2–3 to Southampton before it (16) (22), and the London Stadium turned on Nuno Espirito Santo before the final whistle (9). He faced the chants afterwards and admitted he lives under daily pressure (5) (7). Eighth place, 22 points, six off the top (1) (19). Look at the form line: D W W L L. The away trips in that run produced a 6–0 at Lincoln City and a 1–0 at Swansea City. The home form is what is dragging this promotion campaign sideways.
This is a defensive problem wearing an attacking mask
West Ham have scored more goals than anyone else in the Championship (13). They have also conceded three at home twice in eight days. Mads Hermansen had a hard afternoon behind a back line that started without Konstantinos Mavropanos (11) (12). Nuno picked Pablo from the start and left Tomas Soucek and Joel Piroe on the bench (12). You can argue about shape all you like. Three goals shipped at home twice in a week is not a shape problem, it is a set of individual errors nobody is correcting.
The striker question sits on top of that. Taty Castellanos is running 2.06 expected goals below his output (13). With the best attack in the division behind him, that is a lot of wasted territory.
Nobody is firing Nuno this month
Former Everton chief executive Keith Wyness laid out the club's logic plainly: no mid-season sacking, but no promotion means no Nuno (2). Reports already have preliminary contact made over Rob Edwards (2) (3). Daniel Kretinsky has a list of six names if it comes to it (8). Read that as patience with a deadline attached, not loyalty. The board has boiled the season down to one question.
What to watch at Cardiff on Wednesday
Cardiff City away on Wednesday 4 November, then Blackburn Rovers on Saturday 7 November. Two road games in four days, the exact fixture type this squad has handled best all autumn. Win both and the noise drops. A third straight defeat and the pressure moves from the stands into the boardroom, with a manager who has already been told what the summer looks like if the table does not cooperate (2).
